116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Reclaiming Iowa City history, one brick at a time
IOWA CITY — Workers spent two weeks preserving Iowa City's history — brick by brick.
Starting last month, All American Concrete employees pulled up the century-old clay bricks that line Davenport Street between Linn and Clinton streets, then sorted and organized them on pallets. With the brick removed, underground utility work could be completed.
The painstaking work is part of an ongoing effort to improve and preserve brick streets in Iowa City's historic neighborhoods, despite higher costs associated with brick streets.
In all, the city has 24 blocks of historical clay brick streets, said Public Works Director Ron Knoche. The city is about 10 years into a process to upgrade brick streets a few blocks at a time every other year.
Knoche said there is a $20,000 line item in the budget to help repair brick street potholes. However, it's not enough to 'improve the ride of the street,' he said.
'The challenge with them is that 100 years ago, when they were putting in the brick streets, they didn't necessarily put a concrete base below them,' Knoche said, adding that the city is working to install those bases now so the bricks don't shift as much during the freeze-thaw cycles. 'They tend to move around a bit more and they do become a little bit rougher ride than folks want to have.'
Iowa City had very different reasons for starting each of its initial brick roads.
The first area to be paved was the city's business district in 1895. Clinton Street from Jefferson to Burlington streets was bricked thanks in part to hogs from local farms that would wander the district looking for food and enjoying the mud streets, according to Irving Weber's Historical Stories about Iowa City.
Other brick paving projects followed shortly after, in 1897, on both Summit and College streets, which along with Clinton were the city's three most 'prestigious residential streets,' according to Weber.
About 10 years later, the city decided to pave Linn and Brown streets. This a common path to both Oakland and St. Joseph cemeteries from the downtown churches for funeral processions, which would have a difficult time traveling across dirt roads in wet weather, Weber wrote.
'They've served their purpose for 100 years. They've really performed very well,' Knoche said. 'It's just a matter of it's not as easy as putting an asphalt overlay on a street. It's actually having to do a complete removal and reconstruction.'
Davenport and beyond
Dave Panos, senior civil engineer with the city, said as part of the Davenport Street project, workers will rebuild the road with a concrete base and then place the bricks back on top. The bid from All American Concrete from West Liberty for the project was more than $926,000 and is scheduled to be completed Aug. 11.
'The part of that becomes expensive is dealing with the brick and the labor that's involved. Removal and re-installation of brick is labor intensive,' Panos said. 'That will increase the project costs compared to the replacement of a standard concrete street.'
Knoche said in all, the city has done this work or is in the process of doing it for seven of the brick street blocks.
Anytime a brick street that doesn't fall in one of the city's historic neighborhoods needs work, Knoche said, the city reviews whether it should remain brick.
One of the roads that was converted to concrete is Harrison Street between Dubuque and Clinton streets. When this happens, the city saves these bricks for later projects like Davenport Street to replace any broken bricks.
Bill Simon, president of All American Concrete, agreed the Davenport Street project is labor intensive. He said his employees were removing the bricks at a rate of a block per week and he expects putting them back down to take even longer.
'It's more for historical value probably than anything, but it is very durable. The bricks are very old now and they'll last a heck of a long time compared to any other kind of street surface,' Simon said. 'They hold up really well.'
l Comments: (319) 339-3172; maddy.arnold@thegazette.com
Workers with All American Concrete of West Liberty clean dirt and sand June 29 from paving bricks that were pulled up along Davenport Street. Damaged bricks were separated out while the rest were stacked on pallets. The bricks were to be re-laid once utility work was completed. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Fernando Meraz with All American Concrete of West Liberty cleans dirt June 29 from paving bricks that were pulled up along Davenport Street. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Johnny Lopez with All American Concrete of West Liberty pitches paving bricks June 29 to a co-worker as the bricks are pulled up along Davenport Street. The project is part of ongoing efforts to preserve and restore brick streets in historic areas. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Broken paving bricks are discarded June 29 along Davenport Street in Iowa City. Old bricks from streets resurfaced in neighborhoods not deemed historic are saved and used to replace broken bricks such as these. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
A Purington-brand paver is stacked on a pallet with other paving bricks along Davenport Street in Iowa City. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Paving bricks are stacked on pallets June 29 along Davenport Street in Iowa City. All American Concrete of West Liberty was the winning bidder for the job, at over $926,000. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Paving bricks are pried loose June 29 from the roadway along Davenport Street in Iowa City, Workers pulled up the bricks from the roadway, cleaned dirt and sand from them and separated the damaged bricks before stacking them on the pallets. The bricks were to be re-laid once utility work is completed this summer. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Paving bricks are stacked on pallets along Davenport Street in Iowa City. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Juan Martinez with All American Concrete of West Liberty stacks paving bricks June 29 on a pallet along Davenport Street in Iowa City. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Daily Newsletters